


Beyond the stars

by ellephedre



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Established Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi, Established Relationship, F/M, First Time, Missing Scene, Reunion Sex, Reunions, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Sequel, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:54:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26422231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellephedre/pseuds/ellephedre
Summary: Usagi and Mamoru have to reconnect after the end of Stars. They loved each other, but somehow she ended up believing he would ignore her for months while in America. And how will he feel knowing she hadn't tried to search for him for all that time?
Relationships: Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. Part one - Reunion - 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Oltre le stelle](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/682735) by ellephedre. 
  * Inspired by [Oltre le stelle](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/682912) by ellephedre. 



> This is the very first story of my decade long Sailor Moon saga. You want to know what happened right after the fifth season, Stars? In here I try to give you answers. This first part is set just after Galaxia's defeat and before the Starlights' goodbye on the school rooftop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the very first story of my Sailor Moon saga. You want to know what happened right after the fifth season, Stars? In here I try to give you answers. This first part is set just after Galaxia's defeat and before the Starlights' goodbye on the school rooftop.

**BEYOND THE STARS**  
by ellephedre, translated from italian.

Part one - Reunion/1

Mamoru and his blue eyes looked up. He murmured her name, then Usagi saw him disappear in the same light that had taken the lives of the others. Mamoru, that she loved with all her heart. Mamoru, with whom she would build a future. Mamoru, with whom she would have Chibiusa.

He disappeared like that, in a second.

In fact, he had been gone for months.

All the future she knew, all her life... had long since disappeared.

Shortly before thast, Ami, Makoto, Rei and Minako had fallen. The friends who had accompanied her in every battle - girls with dreams, with a future.

Vanished. Gone.

A strenght she didn't believe she had made her go on, thanks to the help of three warriors from space.

She didn't stop, she didn't give up. She refused to think about what would become of her once she won. After all, she could always lose.

But she survived, she didn't fail. Surrounded by starseeds going back home, she emerged victorious from her battle.

_Now I am alone._

Desperate, she almost collapsed.

Then the girls appeared in a circle around her, all of them, to erase her every fear.

In the end he returned too, just like in the dream she had had just a few hours earlier.

But this time everthing was true.

* * *

The apartment was empty and dark. The blinds were closed and not a single light gave color to the walls.

Standing on the open door, Mamoru wondered at the space in front of him, finding it lifeless, as extinct as his existence has been in the last few weeks.

He didn't look for the switch with his hand, he went towards the windows. He twirled a squeaky handle, slowly lifting the shutters.

Moonlight infiltrated the room, settling first on the floor, then on the dark green sofa and finally illuminating the opposite wall.

He remained where he was, staring into the living room of his house.

It had never seemed so unnatural to be inside his own apartment.

On the bedside table stood the white lamp he had chosen years ago. He turned it on, needing nothing more than that soft halo. He went behind the television and plugged it back. He powered on the fridge and turned the gas knob, reactivating pressure.

_What am I doing?_

He couldn't say. He was moving, he was doing something useful.

He headed toward the phone. He hadn't disconnected it to keep the answering machine running. A red light indicated the presence of messages. He imagined their content, feared it. Yet, he pressed the button that would start the voice mail.

_There are 5 messages._

Beep.

_Message recorded on May 1st._

\- Good morning Mr. Chiba, I am calling you from the administration office of J. Hopkins University. As an exchange student, you were supposed to report to us a week ago to collect the materials necessary to formalize the temporary enrolment to our university. You also missed the orientation session. 

Please visit our campus offices as soon as possible to provide a U.S. phone number, as this is the only number in our records at this time. I wish you a good day. -

Beep.

_Message recorded on May 20th._

\- Good morning Chiba-san. I am calling you from the exchange office of the University of Tokyo. J. Hopkins University contacted our offices to inform us that they couldn't find you to complete the necessary formalities on site. Please contact them as soon as possible. If you have any health problems or if you have met any difficulties in leaving for the United States, please let us know quickly. Have a good day. -

Beep.

_Message recorded on June 1st._

\- Mamoru! Fine, you are busy, but can you spare two minutes to let your friend know that you have arrived and are alive?' - The sound of a laugh. - In a month you have surely found an accommodation. Maybe you have a phone number for me? This way I'll be the one to call you if you don't have time or forget about it. I don't mind, I know you. I just hope you are keeping in touch with Usagi. She seems really depressed these days. Bye!' -

Beep.

_Message recorded on July 20th._

\- Good morning Chiba-san, I'm calling from the Tokyo University Financial Office. Having noted your non-participation in the exchange program, we remind you that your financial position at the university is to be settled for the next fee, due in September. Have a good day -

Beep.

_Message recorded on July 22._

'... ... ...'

A sigh, followed by a hiccup.

Beep.

The answering machine didn't make any other sound.

Mamoru stood, motionless, then pressed the necessary buttons to display the date on the device.

August 3rd.

Three months had passed.

He barely made it to the sofa, collapsed on it.

"Usako."

He hid his face into his hands.

-

The phone ring woke him up. Daylight came in through the open window.

He got up from the couch, stiff in his limbs. He had fallen asleep without even realizing it.

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Mamo-chan..."

Overwhelmed, he trembled. "Usako."

He squeezed the phone, closed his eyelids.

Usako.

The sound of her voice - a delicate echo in his mind - delighted his soul.

He had left her alone for three months.

Words failed him.

He imagined her with the phone against her ear, as devastated as he was behind their silence. Or perhaps she was about to sob? As she had on his voice mail.

His hands began to itch. "Usa, do you want to-"

"Come to you? I am getting out now."

"Yes." He wanted to hold her, touch her.

She had already hung up.

Infused with new life, Mamoru got up to his feet.

* * *

Usagi had slept well until just before waking up.

Of the previous evening she still remembered the smiling faces of the girls, their arms tightly wrapped around her in an heartfel hug. She had loved each and every one as she looked at them, then she had thrown herself into the arms of Mamo-chan. She had struggled to breathe, concentrated only on his voice in her ear - so longed for, finally with her again.

Mamoru had wiped away her tears by looking into her eyes, reassuring her.

In his embrace she had become once again a normal girl who couldn't bear the enormity of the losses she had just experienced. In that instant the wings that had grown on her back had disappeared, and she and all of her friends had fallen down for a few meters, almost ending up on the rubble of the pavement below them. She had supported their balance immediately; smiling, she had returned immense and had conforted everyone around her. _I am light._ She was the kindness that still pervaded her and that her friends had taught her to never forget.

In her mind she had asked for everything in the world to the return to its previous state; before Galaxia, before her distruction. The energy was released from within her soul, powerfully.

Destroyed buildings came back on their feet. Memories of devastation disappeared from the minds of countless people on the planet. Many other things were fixed, but she wouldn't be able to explain how many.

Looking at the Starlights and their princess, who observed her from afar, Usagi was so happy to see them reunited. In Mamoru's arms she had asked for one last gift from the Silver Crystal, her star seed.

_I want all of us to go home._

She had reappeared on a soft mattress, in pajamas. With the scent of Mamo-chan still in her nostrils, she had slipped under the covers and fell asleep, safe in her room.

In the morning she had had a single, terrifying nightmare: Mamoru hugging her only to disappear, until he no longer existed.

She woke up with a scream in her throat, her heart a hammer in her chest. For a moment she wanted to cry with despair, then the memories returned to her. She picked up the phone looking for some connection, a proof.

"Usagi?"

Mamoru's voice confirmed a reality that no enemy could erase.

She laid down on the bed, holding the phone against her cheek.

"Usagi..." he said again and she had risen with happiness.

She no longer had to imagine his voice, she no longer had to wait for an answer that never came. Mamoru was there, he had returned. And he had never forgotten her.  
 _I want to see you, I want to hug you, I want to kiss you. You are alive._

"Usa, do you want to..."

"Come to you? I am getting out now."

"Yes."

She hung up and hurried to put on the first things she found - the clothes that rested on the chair.

In the bathroom she took a moment to think and went back to her room, to retrieve a backpack. She filled it with pajamas, slippers and clean underwear - just enough to avoid coming back home for a night. As a spare outfit, she took her school uniform - just so she wouldn't waste time choosing. On the way out of her room, she stopped to look at the magic brooch that lay on the bedside table.

She was still looking at it, wondering whether or not she should wear it.

It was the source of her power, the jewel that allowed her to fight without dying. She had always carried it with her, even when a war had just ended.

"Usagi?"

She looked at Luna. She crouched, to embrace her.

"Hey... it's all right, Usagi."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you too."

Usagi repressed a sob. "Luna... I am going to Mamoru now. I'll return tomorrow."

After a moment, Luna nodded.

Getting back to her feet, Usagi left the room.

Luna observed the open door.

She had not missed the long look that her protégé had thrown at her brooch. The crystal was still there, deliberately ignored.

Luna did not run to bring it to her. It was not necessary for that day.

-

"Usagi?"  
  
Ikuko stopped her daughter's run to the entrance. What was that sleepyhead doing up at eight o'clock in the morning during summer?  
  
Usagi ran towards her and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
Ikuko's eyes widened.  
  
"Mom, today... I am going on a trip with the girls, okay? We decided only last night. I'll be back tomorrow, don't worry."  
  
"A trip?" For such programs Usagi had to ask for permission first, or at least warn her in advance.  
  
Ikuko didn't scold her: her daughter's serious young face suddenly seemed much more mature than her sixteen years, different from the face of a person she could stop from doing something.  
  
Startled, she nodded.  
  
Usagi returned sweet and childish before her eyes. "Okay, then I'll come back tomorrow afternoon. See you, Mom."  
  
Ikuko watched her daughter disappear beyond the kitchen wall.   
  
Uncertain, she stayed seated, wondering what had happened.

Part one - Reunion/1 - CONTINUE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> N/A: my goal with these scenes was to make you feel the confusion and overwhelming relief that both Usagi and Mamoru felt after coming back from the last battle. Well, she had been the one to fight. He had been simply dead for months and I absolutely wanted to explore how he would react to this knowledge.
> 
> In the next chapter, Mamoru is going to ask Usagi why she hadn't tried to contact him in the US. How could she believe that he wouldn't talk to her for so long?
> 
> Review with your impressions and increase my enthusiasm in translating the story for you ;)


	2. Part One - Reunion - 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usagi and Mamoru meet the morning after the battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I divided the chapter badly the last time. Please, return to the previous chapter to read a brief but important paragraph on Ikuko, Usagi's mother. Sorry for the mistake -_-

**BEYOND THE STARS**  
by ellephedre, translated from italian.

Part One - Reunion/2

There were many things to fix, Mamoru thought, after a return from the afterlife.  
  
He opened the windows, letting light and air into the rooms.  
  
Not tolerating the silence that surrounded him, he turned on the tv.  
  
With strangers' voices speaking in the background, he went to the bathroom to turn the faucets on the sink. The pipe struggled to fill, but when the water flow again, the jet was clean. He used it to freshen himself.  
  
In his room he opened the drawers, finding only a few clothes. The others, he recalled, had remained inside the suitcase he had brought along to America, along with all his documents and laptop.  
  
The airplane!  
  
What had happened to it? Maybe Galaxia had destroyed it?  
  
Of course not, he reasoned. If his plane had been in an accident, Usagi would have known that something had happened to him. She had remained unaware, so the plane must have continued its flight after he had been...   
  
Right. The suitcase had to be at Baltimore's airport. After three months without any complaints, it probably laid abandoned in some warehouse.  
  
Mamoru leaned on the bed, holding his head in his hands.  
  
Without clothes, without documents, without laptop, considered missing by the universities and all the people who knew him.  
  
But above all that, he had been dead for three months. Not a word to Usagi for three whole months.  
  
He hadn't talked to her the night before. They had used their first moments to hold each other, to make sure they were alive and together once again.

He had wiped away tears of joy and sadness from her face: he had know the cause of her despair and relief. As he came back to life, the crystal that had come out of his body had filled him with information: the final battle had just ended and Usagi had won against Galaxia, thanks to an alien child with magenta pigtails. The object that had reanimated him - which had been stolen from him - was a 'star seed' and every Sailor warrior or protector of a planet possessed one. He had lost his a long time ago - even if he had understood how many months had passed only when he been back at home.  
  
Embracing him, Usagi had mentally shared her feelings with him.  
  
_You haven't forgotten me. You really still love me. You have come back to me!_  
  
She had believed him safe in the US. She had convinced herself that he had deliberately avoided having any contact with her.  
  
How was that possible?  
  
He took off the clothes he had worn on the plane, the same ones he had slept in. He wanted life inside and on himself. He changed into the few garments he had left - clothing he hardly ever used.  
  
Restless and awake, he no longer knew what to do.  
  
There were too many questions to investigate, but only Usagi could give him satisfactory answers. He had to wait for her to arrive. In the meantime he couldn't sit on his hands. He took a piece of paper, to write down a list.  
  
He needed to get organized. First of all, he had to get food. The refrigerator was empty, as was the pantry.  
  
After he had restocked and cleaned the house, he had to... well, he had to explain to everyone what had happened to him. Visiting Motoki was a priority.  
  
As for the university, he would said that he had been involved in a serious accident. They'd would ask for a medical certificate as proof. Maybe Ami could help him? Her mother was a doctor.  
  
Doctor...  
  
At John Hopkins to study medicine, while Usagi and the others faced Galaxia by themselves.  
  
If he had stayed at their side, that woman wouldn't have been able to rob him of his essence so easily. And even if she had succeeded, Usagi would have known immediately what had happened to him, instead of living in uncertainty for... three months?  
  
How did she not realize that something was wrong if he hadn't been in touch for so long?  
  
He had told her that he wasn't going to be able to contact her for the first few days, but only as a form of precaution: he had known that she would try to communicate with him as soon as he landed, getting all nervous when she wouldn't hear from him right away. So he tried to prevent possible crisis in advance, but... he had had in mind just a few days of waiting, not three whole months.  
  
How could Usagi believe that he would decide not to talk to her for more than twelve weeks, when at home hardly a day would pass between their calls? Mamoru needed to know, that was going to be the first question he would ask her.  
  
... no.  
  
First he had to apologize to her: during the toughest battle she had ever fought, he hadn't been by her side.  
  
No matter how or why, Usagi had believed that he hadn't wanted to talk to her for months, just when she needed him the most, to help her in the battles, to reassure her, to give her strength.  
  
He pressed hard on his temples.  
  
Why in the world had he left in the first place?  
  
He started to remember: he had convinced himself that he could return at the first sign of necessity.  
  
He had taken into account the possible arrival of new enemies. If necessary, he had reasoned, he would go back and fight without conditions or regrets. Usagi would have been able to tell him when his help was needed; she was no longer an inexperienced warrior. In addition, the girls had become more skilled, too, and stronger over time. His contribution was no longer indispensable.  
  
That's how he had justified himself.  
  
_Stupid._  
  
He should have imagined the worst, predicted it. He hadn't thought about it on purpose, so as not to stop himself from leaving.  
  
He had tried to escape?  
  
No. He hadn't signed up for any program, nor for an exchange project. He had only completed a research he had been engaged in for months. His work had been noticed by a professor who had praised him with his colleagues at an American university and, out of nowhere, Mamoru found himself with a proposal tailor-made for him. Renowned doctors, among the best in their field, had thought that it was worth investing in him, giving him an opportunity.  
  
He had been so proud of it.

Why had he left? To at least try to live the experience. If the enemies returned, he knew what his duty was - the task so intimate to his being that it wasn't even a burden. He would return immediately.  
  
Before accepting the proposal, he had consulted with Usagi. Without her consent he wouldn't have set foot outside Japan, and Usagi... had told him to go.  
  
A part of her would have preferred not to see him leave, to continue seeing him every day, but when she encouraged him to go, it was as the mature person who loved him and supported him unconditionally. His family.  
  
In the days leading up to his departure, Mamoru realized how much Usagi had grown.  
  
For centuries - and now for two years - she had been the love of his life. The day was getting closer and closer when they would be a real family. So, he had bought her a ring. It was too early for a promise of engagement, but he had seen it behind a window, pink and heart-shaped, and thought that the ring perfectly represented his Usako.  
  
He had bough it with the intention of taking it with him on his journey, to keep it near his heart while they were divided by an ocean. Then Usagi started crying at the airport and he realized that, despite the conscious choice to let him go, the nostalgia for her would be devastating. He had given her the ring, to remind her of the truth that he always had in mind: she was and would be unique in his life, the center of his universe.

One day, in the future, there would be Chibiusa, but most of all the kingdom he and Usako would protect as sovereigns. Moreover...  
  
He felt a twinge in his brain - a quick touch, an injection of knowledge.  
  
He breathed the feeling.  
  
New information had been consolidated in his head.  
  
He narrowed his eyes, trying to make it go away.  
  
Why was he imagining that...?  
  
He breathed deeply, until everything was clear: exactly as when Usagi had awakened him, something - someone? - had endowed him with answers.  
  
The silver crystal?  
  
He was being told that... that the future was closer than he thought. The Silver Millennium would last over a thousand years in the future, but it would rise within... ten years?  
  
No, less than ten years.  
  
He blinked, incredulously.  
  
He and Usagi would become King and Queen in just over... five years? Yes, five years. But within ten years.  
  
He was certain of it, with an appalling clarity.  
  
_What the-?_ He massaged his temples, trying to stop thinking.  
  
He got up and got to another room. He tried to distinguish dream from reality, but nothing changed in his mind.  
  
He'd become ruler of the Earth in a very short time.  
  
He went out on the balcony, looking for air.

_King? I?_  
  
He had always known it, but he had believed he had many years ahead of him, in which he could first live his own life.  
  
He heard a noise in the house, turned around.  
  
Someone was opening the entrance door.

* * *

Upon entering, Usagi saw Mamoru in half-light, standing out on the balcony window.  
  
She stopped breathing until he moved.  
  
It wasn't a dream.  
  
Mamoru was walking towards her, all the way to the center of the living room. He was reaching for her slowly, of his own free will. She no longer had to just imagine that he wanted to come back to see her, to feel her.  
  
It all became more real when she looked at him in the eyes. Mamoru was astonished and full of emotion, on the verge of running in her direction.  
  
He was real, he was alive. He had really come back to her.  
  
She burst into tears.  
  
She heard his quick steps, then his arms around her body lifting her weight, clinging poorly to her back, to her dress. She didn't care, she held on tightly to his shoulders. Those hugs, how she had missed them!  
  
She sobbed, out of breath. She gasped searching for the scent of his hair, of his face. Mamo-chan. She tried to stammer his name and failed, pressing her nose against his skin, dying of joy and pain.  
  
_I thought you had forgotten about me!_ She kissed him open-mouthed on his cheekbone, on his cheek. Feeling the strenght of his embrace, months of agony died all together within her.

«Usako.»

Oh yes, she was once again Usako. The relief got out of her in a groan. She didn't succeed in kissing him anymore because she found herself kissed, loved.  
  
How had she kept all that love inside her? How had she managed not to express it, holding it back?  
  
She scratched Mamoru between nape and neck as she tried to hold on to him, to keep giving him her lips, taking his in return. They were sweet and hard, soft, anxious to find her again. They were Mamo-chan, who hadn't forgotten about her even for an instant.  
  
Together, they stumbled sideways, finding a balance only when he held her tight with one arm, bending his knees to sit down.  
  
_I could have lost you!_  
  
She fell on him, squeezed him hard. She caressed him on his shoulders, on his back, through his hair, convulsely, vigorously. Not an inch of skin escaped her, because she wanted to feel him in one piece, healthy and safe. She adhered to him with her chest to feel how he moved, how he existed.  
  
He had returned, after being dead.  
  
She stopped moving, her hands still on his neck. She felt his lips pressing against her mouth by themselves, with the desire to find her, to feel her.  
  
It wasn't a dream. She hadn't let him die, she had brought him back.  
  
The rubbing of their kiss had become soft, too beautiful to be only in her imagination.  
  
She stopped to get some air and to caress his name. "Mamo-chan."  
  
She was still crying. Mamoru's fingers held her cheeks, attending to her face to send away the tears.  
  
They kissed softly, like children, consoling each other.  
  
She didn't want to tear herself away from him anymore: she wanted to care for him, to love him closely. She wanted to keep kissing him leisurely and firmly, fast and slow, filling herself with his taste. She didn't feel it as much as before and she dared to look for it with her tongue, just when Mamoru opened his lips and search for hers.  
  
Together they trembled. Usagi shuddered when they repeated the tasting, too much not to try to break away, then rubbing herself against him.  
  
She melted for how divine and sweet it was.  
  
They opened their lips again, into each other, no longer out of desperation. A sound came out of her, a moan. She slipped on his knees, found herself sitting, then she fell backwards. She didn't stop holding him for a moment - in that tenderness she wanted to dissolve. She lay down on the carpet with him, together.  
  
"Usako."  
  
She pulsated with joy, placing her head in the hollow of his arm to keep kissing him, comfortable. She would never let him go again. "Mamo-chan, Mamoru."  
  
He stopped, and in the breath against her cheek Usagi felt his pain. She kept her face attached to his, didn't let him go. Forgive me.  
  
She had been the one to abandon him. The agony of the guilt was excruciating. She enclosed him between her legs, in her arms, firmly and tight against her. They rocked together and it was so pleasant and beautiful... But by standing still, she felt like she wasn't giving him something, she wanted and sought something... She stirred in his arms, making Mamoru move against her, rubbing. She found what she was looking for when their hips found a perfect fit, a sting of reality in her lower abdomen.

She opened her eyes wide and couldn't even pant.  
  
He pulled himself up on his arms, stiff. Slowly, he moved away from her.  
  
Usagi looked for his eyes, but Mamoru held them fixed on the ground, confused. On the top of his cheeks there was a little bit of... color?  
  
He had never looked like that before. She hadn't seen him in front of her, with such clarity and closeness, for a long time.  
  
"You were dead," she murmured, repressing a hiccup. "You were dead all these months."  
  
She saw him suffer and couldn't resist: she crawled until she reached him, embraced him. She vibrated at the contact, foolishly, because of new sensations that were nothing compared to the ones he had always given her.  
  
She moved away to look him in the eyes: the blue irises of her Mamo-chan, the ones he looked at her with when he held her tight, smiled at her, contemplated her. When he called her Usako, making her shiver sweetly.

She had believed he hadn't longed for the two of them, that he hadn't feel their love as strongly as she did.  
  
She had been so stupid.  
  
Mamoru ached and caressed her face. "I'm sorry."  
  
"It wasn't your fault..." Why did she still feel like crying?  
  
"I'm sorry," he repeated, but she managed to think only when she found herself pressed to his chest and felt him panting loudly, on the verge of despair.  
  
_No!_ She flinched. "Now you are alive." He was fine, he didn't have to be afraid.  
  
Mamoru breathed erratically. "I'll never go away again. I'll never leave you again."  
  
Inside her, another knot of pain dissolved. Those were the words she had wanted to hear him say, so much.  
  
She was so immature, still thinking about herself. "You are alive, Mamo-chan." She got to her knees, to hold his head to her breast, cradling him. "I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."  
  
She heard a low sound, a stunted laugh.  
  
She missed feeling mocked by him. "What?" She dried the trail of a tear. "Can't I be the one to protect you?"  
  
"You can." Mamoru stopped smiling. "But everything has changed. I should have been the one to help you."

He was groping for faults and he had none. He wasn't thinking, ot he was thinking poorly. It was because he had just woken up and... Oh. "Look what I brought you." She got back on her feet and for an instant she struggled to separate from him. For Mamo-chan's sake she stopped being silly, moving towards the bags she had dropped on the floor, at the entrance.  
  
"You haven't eaten anything, have you?" How could there be food in the house? She had thought about it while she was running to see him; she had been very clever. "I bought you some things. You must be hungry."  
  
Mamoru was sitting on the floor. He melted into a smile, the sweetest, youngest smile she had ever seen on his face.  
  
"You always think about food."  
  
No. On that carpet, with him, for years she had thought about kisses, hugs, abot how much she loved him and the moments of happiness they created together - even with a table between the two of them, while eating or reading books. Now she wanted to go back to his side, ruffle his hair and - one day - lie down again on the ground together, tight and close.  
  
She blushed and happily joined him. She took his hands. "Come now. Your Usako will prepare you a nice breakfast."

Part One - Reunion/2 - CONTINUE

A/N: Usagi and Mamoru are finally reunited. And it seems like, in a moment of desperation, they discovered a new side of their relationship.  
By the end of this story they will act on their new feelings, but first they have to talk about a lot of things (and say goodbye to a certain Sailor Starlight).

Review please :) I love comments!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usagi and Mamoru are finally reunited. And it seems like, in a moment of desperation, they discovered a new side of their relationship.  
> By the end of this story they will act on their new feelings, but first they have to talk about a lot of things (and say goodbye to a certain Sailor Starlight).
> 
> Review please :) I love comments!


	3. Part One - Reunion - 3

BEYOND THE STARS  
by ellephedre, translated from italian.

**Part one - Reunion/3**

Mamoru couldn't stop watching Usagi. She was tinkering in his kitchen, slowly, to make him observe her. She smiled when she met his eyes.  
  
Having her a few feet away from him was familiar, incredible after what happened to both of them and... painfully rare.  
  
Why hadn't he asked her to stay at his place more often? He had too few memories of her making coffee, or tearing up cookie bags.  
  
He had almost lost forever moments like that, and all the ones that would come with her in his kitchen, in his home, in his life.  
  
Why had he left?  
  
Usagi was the same as always, but he felt a void between them, for the months of her existence he hadn't shared. The distance was only in his head, unreal, because Usagi hadn't changed at all. It seemed like he had seen her only the day before - at the airport - even if much more time had passed for her - weeks of anguish and worry of which he only had a meager summary.  
  
 _Why didn't you look for me?_  
  
He tightened his lips and didn't ask the question. Usagi wanted a moment of peace. He could give her as much.  
  
She turned around, contemplating him again. "As soon as the water boils, I'll also make tea. Just as you like it."  
  
He had never told her that he liked everything when she was the one preparing it.  
  
Usagi stopped moving, her eyes fixed on him. She looked at him as if he was a dream come true, or a ghost come back to life.  
  
She was the everyday life he hadn't appreciated enough. "I would have missed you after the first day."  
  
She felt his pain. "You had to study."  
  
He could have done it anywhere. America would have been an unbeatable study experience, but only if he could take Usagi with him. Only if he hadn't been Tuxedo Kamen and she didn't carry the fate of the whole world on her shoulders. "I left you alone."  
  
Usagi looked at the ground. "...you would have called me."  
  
Oh, yes. As soon as he landed, to calm her down. Or, if the time difference hadn't allowed it, he would have let her sleep, and wouldn't have waited more than twelve hours after his arrival in the United States. He would have thought of her at all times. He had her in mind when Galaxia had found him, and even when he was dead.   
  
_I knew you would save everyone. I had faith in you._  
  
"Why didn't you look for me?" He had died thinking of the pain he would cause her, praying that she would be happy and strong. Instead she...   
  
"You said... that you would be busy."  
  
Was it shame he heard in her voice? "For three months?"  
  
Usagi didn't look at him, overwhelmed with guilt. "You said you wouldn't call immediately. You had a lot to study and I didn't... I didn't want to bother you."  
  
Was that the truth? It had to be, but- "Did you believe that for three months I wouldn't contact you at least once?" It was unreal. "And you didn't feel the need to call me?"  
  
Usagi looked at him. Her silence left him with a hole in the heart.  
  
Had she forgotten about him? Had she not missed him?  
  
She shook her head. "I was stupid. I wrote you a letter every day, Mamo-chan. There wasn't a time when I didn't think of you."  
  
He still didn't understand. "Did you think I was ignoring you?"  
  
"... Yes."  
  
He became impatient. "How is that possible?!"  
  
"I don't know! It seemed sensible to me that you were busy and that you were expecting me to... The silence was from you, in my head it was normal!"  
  
He no longer blamed her, because the pain had deformed her face.  
  
"I felt so hurt, Mamo-chan! And I was stupid, because I was the one who had abandoned you!"  
  
No, no. He went to her, embraced her. His suffering was in retrospect, it was a reasoning. He hadn't lived weeks of silence and doubt like she had.  
  
Usagi clung to his arms. "I wanted to hear your voice! So much that I even... I picked up the phone, dialed your number and... I feel so pathetic..."  
  
"You called my answering machine."  
  
She shuddered.  
  
"A message slipped by you... You were crying." There was his proof, if he really needed one.  
  
Against his chest, Usagi lifted her head. She regained courage and stepped back, holding his hands. "I believed in your love, Mamo-chan."  
  
She didn't have to explain herself to him. Maybe it was impossible and it was all just a huge misunderstanding.  
  
"I was sure that you were thinking of me. I didn't doubt that you were well - as in the weeks you spent studying for your exams here in Tokyo, remember? When we didn't hear from each other for a while. I knew you were there, you knew I was supporting you... We didn't need to talk about it. I was convinced that in these weeks the same was happening. I was taking it as a test of patience. Of... resistance."  
  
"I would never have done such a thing to you."  
  
She didn't nod, neither looked at him. "You are not like me. We used to talk on the phone every day when you didn't have to study, but usually it was me who called you. I am the one who needs confirmation. You love me in your own way, quietly. Sometimes without words."  
  
...that was the impression he had given her?

"You think of me even when you don't speak to me, Mamoru, I know it. So...you had gone far away to study important things. You deserved it and you were concentrated. I imagined you bent over your books. Sometimes perhaps you remembered my face and smiled. Calling wasn't indispensable to you, it wasn't... so important."  
  
He began to see his mistake, the problem that was born out of his attitude.  
  
Sometimes he had behaved like that with her, innocently, without believing he was doing her any harm, for a short time. Just for a short time, right?  
  
Usagi sighed. "For me it was obvious that you were fine. I couldn't think that anything had happened to you, it was... impossible. You were far away, and you were safe!"  
  
He took her by the shoulders. "Usako." A new fear crept into his mind. "Did you believe until the end that I was thinking of you?"  
  
She nodded, painfully. "But I felt the need for a sign. I missed a contact from you like hell. You knew me and... I didn't understand! You certainly knew that I was hurting, but you didn't call me. I felt so..."  
  
Abandoned.   
  
She refused to say so. "You didn't do anything, it was all in my head. I was trying to distract myself, you know? The girls were worried and they stayed close to me. Even though they didn't know that you didn't call me, they saw that I felt down. Then there was the novelty of the Three Lights, and Seiya who..."  
  
"Wait." He still didn't want to talk about other people. "If I had simply left, I would have called you back in the first week. Several times."  
  
She covered her face with her hands.  
  
Mamoru couldn't stand it: Usagi couldn't blame herself. "I shouldn't have let you think that I didn't care about you."  
  
"No, it's not like that."  
  
"Yes, it is. I speak very little and don't tell you how I feel. You call me more, Usa, because you almost always precede me, but it's true that... I get distracted. And that I know that you are out there, waiting for me." It sounded cruel, and it was even more cruel because of how it had made her feel. "But I feel you with me. I know that you are always there, that I am thinking of you, and that you... are thinking of me in return." He had started talking with the intention of explaining himself to her, but he was just repeating the reasons behind the mistake she had made, confirming its validity.   
  
He kept everything inside, how could she know how he felt?  
  
She nodded sadly. "I know."  
  
It was an awareness that now brought her hope, but that had made her suffer in silence for a long time.  
  
Usagi wasn't happy to see him hurt. "That's enough. I understand. Forgive me. I've already forgiven you if there is something you... But it's not true. I did it all by myself."  
  
He no longer believed that. But he had time to make up for it. Weeks, months. Years.  
  
The water was boiling. Usagi broke off and went to the stove. "Now let's have breakfast. Just... breakfast."  
  
She was asking for a moment of reprieve. He shared her need and nodded.  
  
He helped her to take out the cups. They juggled together to bring to the table everything they wanted to drink and eat. Usagi served herself a nice cup of milk and in the end he too poured a drop of it into his tea. The coffee would make him nervous and he let her know, with kindness, that he'd drink it later.  
  
Usagi looked at him as if she were expecting a story from him, unconsciously.  
  
It was strange, really, that he had actually never gone to America. "You know, this morning I went to my room to change and... I'm almost out of clothes. I put them in the suitcase that I brought with me."  
  
"Yeah." She had a memory in her eyes. "When she... It happened while you were on the plane."  
  
He felt almost ashamed. "Did you see it?" The miserable and quick way in which he had been defeated.  
  
Usagi swallowed. "Galaxia showed it to me." She shook her head. "She was plagiarized by evil."  
  
Mamoru no longer wanted to think badly of anything or anyone, but he had to know. "It happened an hour after I left. The rest of the plane arrived in America, right?"   
  
"Yes, no accident." Usagi thought it over and suddenly straightened her back, surprised.   
  
"What?" he asked her.  
  
She smiled. She got up and dragged him by an arm, towards the balcony. She opened the glass door. On one side, not visible from the living room, there was a large suitcase. His.  
  
"But how...?" Mamoru knelt down and trafficked with the numerical combination of the padlock. Was that really his suitcase? There in his house?  
  
He opened it. Everything was there: the clothes, his laptop, everything. "But how....?" He looked at Usagi, who smiled incredulously.  
  
"I cannot explain it to you. As soon as you spoke about it, I had a feeling in my head. It took me a while to understand it. The suitcase must have reappeared here last night."  
  
... she was responsible for it.  
  
Usagi was looking at his well-folded clothes. "I don't know how many things my crystal is capable of taking care of. It has restored the buildings that the battle destroyed and brought you back to me. It must have erased the memories of these days of battles from people's minds, as usual."  
  
"It was what you wanted. Peace."  
  
"I know it all depends on my will, but..." She tried to laugh. "I'm not precise, my crystal is. We must thank it for your suitcase."  
  
Usagi had won yet another war all by herself and was still modest, too humble.  
  
She knelt by his side. "Gradually things will go back to the way they were before." She breathed in and found his hand. "No, better than before. This time I'll try to understand you for real and I'll never make the mistake of-"  
  
He had to say it. "Usako." He caressed her arm. "I am the one who has to make you understand how I feel about you. Not just now or just once. Every day. It's a pledge. You must feel how much I love you."  
  
A few words and such an extraordinary effect: Usagi swelled with joy, lightening up. She caressed his whole arm, his shoulder. She reached for his face and for the first time, on her hand, he felt something.  
  
He turned his head, touched the ring he had given her.  
  
"I never took it off," she smiled.  
  
For all those months, in which she had waited in vain for an answer.  
  
She had remembered him. She had loved him.  
  
Usagi threw herself into his arms. "Don't" she smiled. They both had a hard lump in their throats, that felt good but was too heavy to handle. Usagi swallowed it. "No more pain. Let it go with me, Mamo-chan. We are together now."  
  
Yes, they were. With all his might he held her and there, on that balcony, in his house, he promised.  
  
 _I'll never leave you again._

** CONTINUES ON PART 2 **   
  


* * *

  
A/N: Usagi and Mamoru talked about their issues, which was something I so wanted to see on TV many years ago! If only!  
Fanfictions exist to make dreams come true fortunately. In the next chapter, Mamoru is going to learn about Seiya... Prepare for a lot of fluff and even a little bit of jealousy. And after that, in chapter three, a whole night in which the two of them are going to be ALL alone. After all this suffering. And with all that love simmering behind the surface... Be prepared!

Thanks to the readers that have left a comment. Please, let me know what you think of this chapter! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usagi and Mamoru talked about their issues, which was something I so wanted to see on TV many years ago! If only!  
> Fanfiction exist to make dreams come true fortunately. In the next chapter Mamoru is going to learn about Seiya... Prepare for a lot of fluff and even a little bit of jealousy. And after that, in chapter three, a whole night in which the two of them are going to be ALL alone. After all this suffering. And with all that love simmering behind the surface... Be prepared!
> 
> Thanks to the readers that have left a comment. Please, let me know what you think of this chapter! <3


	4. Part Two - Goodbyes - 1

**BEYOND THE STARS**  
by ellephedre, translated from italian.

**Part two - Goodbyes/1**

Afterwards, they both felt that the worst was over. Sensing that it was the right moment, Mamoru asked Usagi to tell him about her experiences during the last few months.

-

The surprise... the first enemy had been a Sailor warrior. And other Sailors had arrived. They had refused to help in the fight against evil - just as Uranus and Neptune had done before them. But the difference had been clear from the beginning: the Starlights weren't part of the solar system.

Star seeds, the new target of the enemy.

At school the Three Lights, during the battles the Starlights.

The birth of a new friendship with three peculiar boys, with the Inners going crazy about them.

The appearance of Sailor Lead Crow and Sailor Alluminium Siren.

Then Chibi Chibi, who looked so much like her and who, just like Chibiusa, had settled into her house, pretending to be her relative.

The discovery of the true identity of the Starlights and the sadness in the face of an hostility that made no sense.

The appearance of Sailor Tin Nyanko and Kakyuu, the princess sought after by the Three Lights.

Being recognized as Sailor Moon and identified as a target, protected in every way by her friends.

The path to the final battle, the sacrifice of Princess Kakyuu, the beginning of a destruction that had seemingly no end.

Then the death of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. As if that wasn't enough, the terrible awareness of the true design Galaxia had in mind for the universe and what she had done with the star seeds she had collected. Among those she had shown, Usagi had seen his.

The vision of his last moments alive - a pain that had annihilated everything else for her.

The death of Pluto and Saturn. The betrayal of Uranus and Neptune.

She hadn't wanted to believe it until the end... If she had, she would have lost every will to live.

The continuous support of the Starlights.

The discovery of the real willpower of Haruka and Michiru; to see them sacrifice everything - their life, honor and dignity - to save the universe, in vain.

The desperate attempt at victory of the Starlights, simple warriors against an enemy of incomparable strength.

The unexpected last help of Chibi Chibi... and realizing that basking in pain was useless. She had to believe in love and in the hope she had trusted all her life. She had personally experienced both, she knew their strength.

She had imagined a world of pain and despair and she couldn't not do something to prevent it. She hadn't been able to see everything and everyone around her die. The force had sprung from within her... and Galaxia had freed herself from Chaos.

-

Mamoru heard her finish an epic tale. Once again he was amazed to be with a person who could save the entire universe: that was the essence of Usagi, her destiny. Yet she had managed not to be overwhelmed by it. Sailor Moon and Serenity were identities that had never overtaken her. They had submitted to Usagi, they had become part of her essence, to be called on when necessary. Maybe she didn't know it either, but she had an enormous control over her own life and power. There would never be anyone better suited for her role.

Usagi remained silent while watching the window.

Mamoru had some questions for her, about two issued she hadn't touched on in the way he was interested. "The other girls... When you told them about the problem you had with me, what did they say?"

He had only recently thought about it and couldn't fathom the girls not having doubts about his lack of communication. Usagi had been prey to strong and conflicting feelings, but they must have seen things more clearly, right?

Usagi stiffened and lowered her gaze. She didn't speak while trying to formulate an answer.

For Mamoru it wasn't difficult to interpret her silence. The situation had affected Usagi's relationship with her closest friends too: she hadn't confided in them - and she had always told them everything.

Usagi was full of remorses. "I told Rei, just her, shortly before the final battle... and only because she insisted. Just a moment later we heard about the dissolution of the Three Lights on the radio. It was another part of the battle we were fighting... and we never spoke of you again." She began to shake her head. "Oh, but she knew right away that something was very wrong. And soon the girls will all talk about it together and they will realize that I didn't trust them." She was breathless when she arrived at a conclusion that until then had never taken such a shape in her mind. "And it was exactly like that: I didn't trust them. But I didn't mean to... I didn't mean it." She hid her face in her hands.

Mamoru hugged her and drowned her sobs against his shoulder.

"And I didn't want to cry anymore..." A bitter laugh came out of her chest.

Mamoru didn't blame her. The shortcomings within their relationship had led her not to confide in anyone. Usagi had been ashamed... She had believed that he was choosing not to speak to her and not to write to her and she hadn't wanted her friends to know about it.

"Usa... don't cry anymore." He kissed her cheek and felt the salt of her tears. "It won't be easy, but they adore you, just as you adore them."

The ghost of a smile appeared on her face.

"Open yourself about how you have felt and they'll understand, you'll see."

"Yeah." Usagi broke away from him and began to nod with greater conviction. "Yeah, you are right."

"At some point the girls will see my share of guilt in this situation. If they don't get there on their own, be the one to point it out."

Usagi took a breath in protest, but he closed her mouth with his own. Then, just because he couldn't hold back, he did it again. She remained silent just enough to allow him to continue. "Then tell everyone that I love you so much that I'll fix everything."

She hid her face in his neck again, hugging him tightly, all her despair forgotten.

He reciprocated the embrace - feeling, every time, as if he was at home.

In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, he chose to ask his second question: it was nothing that would make her cry again.

"Before... When you started telling me about these months, you said that when I wasn't there, everyone was worried about you. And that there was Seiya, Seiya who is a Sailor Starlight but also a guy who sings with the Three Lights, who... You didn't finish. What did he do?"

"Oh."

Usagi's cheeks pinked and he didn't like it much.

"Yeah, well... I told you that we had become friends with the Three Lights. The girls were always trying to spend time with them, and in the end Taiki and Yaten were a fun company too. But I liked being with Seiya in particular, because... well, he's very much like me in character." A shy laugh, almost embarrassed, escaped her throat. "When I was sad he did everything he could to cheer me up. Once, for instance, he took me to the amusement park, then to dance... he even convinced me to participate in a softball tournament. And we won! He helped me so many times not to get too sad... for you."

Mamoru liked the situation less and less.

Usagi wanted to clarify. "I love him as I love the girls. It hurt me when he walked away from us with the other Starlights. Anyway, he... he always flirted a little, but I thought that was his way. But... that time Sailor Tin Nyanko attacked me, he came to save me and to stop her he threw a rose to the ground. When I saw it, I hoped so deeply that it was you that, when I realized I was wrong, I couldn't stand it anymore. I burst into tears. Seiya was convinced that you had forgotten me and that you were hurting me by ignoring me on purpose. He asked me why... why it couldn't be him... why I couldn't choose him."

Usagi sighed, preferring not to give any meaning to Mamoru's silence. She wasn't even looking at him: she had already thought about it and was a little ashamed for having raised Seiya's hopes, however unconsciously.

"Only then I realized how blind I had been, but I didn't want it to end like that between us. I wanted to clarify and maybe... maybe afterwards everything could go back to the way it was before. It wasn't easy to meet with him, because of Uranus and the others... As a group we were at odds with the Starlights and... well, Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna were no help. In the end I was able to see Seiya at their last concert, just before... everything started. I was able to make him understand..." She shook her head. "He couldn't be my choice. I cried. His feelings were sincere, but mines for you were absolute and in the end nobody was happy. I was sorry to hurt someone I cared about, but he... he understood." A soft smile appeared on her lips. "He made one of his jokes to dampen the tension. It wasn't the answer he had wanted to get from me, but he understood. He went to sing and I haven't seen him since then as Seiya. But as Sailor Star Fighter he supported me with all of himself. At least with him, things ended well." She smiled openly: it was true. Between the disaster she had made with Mamoru and her friends, at least with Seiya she had behaved as correctly as she could.

Mamoru's silence began to unnerve her. She had to conclude with an explanation. "When I mentioned him before, I didn't mean that he kept me too busy to think about you. I was just trying to say that... he, like the others, saw me very depressed. I was so sad that he did what he could to make me happy. This helped me not to focus on the pain, to have the confidence necessary to believe that everything was going to be okay. In those moments I just thought I was exaggerating with my negative thoughts about you and that soon I would receive a call, or a letter."

He continued not to comment.

"Still, you are allowed to consider me a fool for allowing Seiya to misunderstand our relationship. I shouldn't have let it happen."

She raised her head. Mamoru had his eyes fixed on the window, absorbed.

"Tell me what you are thinking."

A smile came out of him. "I don't think you have done anything to make this Seiya hope, apart from being you." He sighed. "I've always felt quite calm about other guys... perhaps because you tend to attract only supernatural types."

"Huh?" After all she had said to him, that was his only reaction? He wasn't even a little bit jealous?

"Think about it... me, Ail, Demando and finally Seiya."

She hadn't heard those names for a long time. She tried to remember some other guy who had been interested in her. "Umino liked me before he got involved with Naru," she declared triumphantly.

"But he knew you before you became Sailor Moon, didn't he?"  
  
... yeah. She tried to think of someone else, but... no, there hadn't been other guys. Was it possible that people felt that there was something different about her? It wasn't a pleasant thought.  
  
Mamoru noticed her disappointment. "Usa, it must be just because it takes a certain amount of strength, of ... power, to even consider being on equal footing with you. I believe that, on a subconscious level, one can perceive that you are not romantically approachable by a normal person, precisely because of what you intrinsically are."  
  
As much as he loved him, sometimes her Mamo-chan was too analytical.  
  
He noticed the strange look in her eyes. "Maybe I just like to think that there is not much chance that others will look at you the way I do."  
  
She liked that admission very much. "Even if it happens, it will never be a problem, you know."  
  
He simply observed her, studying her. "You blushed earlier, while talking about Seiya."  
  
"No!" She betrayed herself when her cheeks pinked again. "Now... well, this is embarrassment. For being found out." She hastened to explain. "I have never had romantic ideas about Seiya, ever! It's just that certain flirtations are pleasant, that is... It was nice to feel at the center of that kind of attention, even if it meant nothing. That's all there is to it."  
  
Mamoru didn't mind. He half laughed, half observed her, observing her as if he were rediscovering her all over again.  
  
"You know what I think?" he asked.  
  
"... No."  
  
"I think that you blush for certain attentions because you're not used to them. And because you like them very much. Until now I've been counting too much on you fulfilling these needs with secret fantasies about our relationship... that were not so secret."  
  
"Uh?" She moved backwards on the couch.  
  
He was enjoying himself too much to stop. "You always liked it when I came to rescue you as Tuxedo Kamen, when I took you in my arms... If it had been possible, instead of eyes you'd have had hearts in those moments."  
  
...was he making fun of her?  
  
"Then, let's see... you like those fairy-tale princess situations. When we were still fighting against the Dark Kingdom, you once used the disguise pen just to put on an evening dress and dance at a ball. And then when we danced... yeah, heart eyes. And for your previous birthday, you asked me for a pair of crystal shoes. I'm sure you've been fantasizing about me, you and those shoes for days. The dreamy gaze of the following days didn't escape me."  
  
Usagi frowned. "It's nice to know that you feel this way about my needs."  
  
He grabbed her by the arm and somehow made her sit on his knees, surrounding her waist with his arms. "What I think," Usagi heard in her ear, "is that I'd like to satisfy these needs of yours more often."  
  
A thrill of wonderful embarrassment ran through her.  
  
He began to look at her nose, as if he found it particularly cute. "Now that I think about it, there is one thing that I am sure will make you happy. You'll dream about it for some time."  
  
"Uh?"  
  
"When did we kiss for the first time?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You heard me, when?"  
  
Had he forgotten? "You were there too."  
  
"Answer anyway."  
  
What did he have in mind? "During our date at the park, after we got out of the boat... when Chibiusa arrived."  
  
"No."  
  
"What do you mean 'no'? Of course that was our first kiss!"  
  
"We kissed each other for the first time there. But I had already kissed you on another occasion."  
  
Usagi jerked in his arms. "When? It's not possible, I don't remember anything."  
  
"I spoke about the occasion a moment ago."  
  
Usagi recalled his word. "At the masked ball, the one in which I used the disguise pen! At a certain point I felt a little dizzy because of a drink that was too strong, and someone helped me out on the balcony... then I recovered while I was leaning on a column."  
  
"There."  
  
"You have... Oh."  
  
"Watch out for the heart eyes."  
  
"But it's so... romantic." She surrounded his neck with her arms and kissed him on one cheek, as slowly as possible. "You were right, I will fantasize about it for a while."  
  
He withdrew. "The point is that I no longer want your fantasies to be just... fantasies. Otherwise you'll end up smiling like this at someone else, for any kind of gallant gesture."  
  
But no, how could he think-  
  
"And yes, even without loving him or having the slightest intention to do so."  
  
"You are wrong. I could be flattered, but only with you I'll smile like this. Only with you, Mamo-chan. So... you mustn't feel compelled to do things that don't come naturally to you." She loved him as he was.  
  
"So... you are urging me not to behave romantically with you?" He smiled.  
  
"Don't misunderstand me, you know what I mean."  
  
"Yes."  
  
They remained silent.  
  
"I love you, Usako."  
  
"Ohhh..." A soft sigh came out of her chest and she held him even tighter. "See? You can be romantic without any effort. I'm easy to please."  
  
"And I am still of the idea that I'd like to make your fantasies come true. I'm not making an effort, I've just decided that I like the reward and I want it to be just for me."  
  
But it was already his alone, Usagi thought, her chest warm.  
  
"Come on, I'm available. Tell me one fantasy."  
  
Well... her deepest ones were almost ridiculous, but there was a silly and simple idea that she had always found absurdly romantic. "Okay. Take me in your arms and kiss me."  
  
He waited for further requests. "Is that all?"  
  
"Yes." Usagi was positively surprised that he wasn't making fun of her. She added a detail. "But you have to do it in a romantic way, that's the trick."  
  
"Ah, it's not a purely mechanical exercise. Got it."  
  
The position they were in allowed him to easily pick her up. She balanced herself with her arms around his neck while he stood up. With great aplomb Mamoru took her in a complete tour of the living room, then, with a theatrical act, he touched her mouth with his own, ending it all with a fake lover's sigh.  
  
Usagi burst out laughing. "You idiot!"  
  
Mamoru laughed with her and in his heart rejoiced at the moment of happiness they were experiencing. They were no longer wrapped in pain, even though the wound was still too recent to forget about the copiousness of the bleeding.  
  
Yet Usagi was there, in his arms, alive and happy.  
  
He walked to the balcony, longing for the sunlight. Outside, the vitality of the day fell on them.  
  
He lowered his head to meet again the softness of the mouth that he loved, that he... desired.  
  
When he broke away, Usagi had eyes shaped like hearts and he wouldn't have wished to see any other expression on her face.  
  
"Put me down."  
  
Mamoru obeyed and once on her feet, Usagi threw herself against him, almost crushing him.  
  
"Before I couldn't hold you like this. I adore you Mamo-chan, I adore you!".  


**CONTINUES ON Part two - Goodbyes/2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Fluffliness galore! For a couple still so innocent as Usagi and Mamoru at this stage of their relationship, I don't really see any other way for them to advance to the next level: first they have to bask a little in this one. No sense in them making love if they still hadn't kissed enough, or if Usagi didn't feel free to tell him everything she wanted and desired emotionally. That was one of their problems in the anime, in my mind.
> 
> Further in the chapter, I'm going to write from Seiya's POV, at least a little, because I've always wanted to know how he felt after discovering he had judged Mamoru so unfairly while he was dead.
> 
> And Usagi has to face her friends too. How will they behave and feel?
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Elle


	5. Part One - Goodbyes/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Farewell to the Starlights

Part two - Goodbyes/2  
  
For lunch, Usagi suggested eating out. Afterwards, she told Mamoru, they could stop at a grocery store to fill up his empty fridge.  
  
While they were on his doorstep, her sailorphone beeped. She turned it on and on the small screen appeared the face of... "Minako!" The shout came from the core of her soul.  
  
"Usagi-chan!" Her sweet Minako laughed, full of emotion. Someone pushed her to the side.  
  
"Usagi-chan, hi!"  
  
"Makoto, you're there too!"  
  
"Hey, don't forget about me!" Rei took her place inside the framing, with her usual arrogance. "Hello!"  
  
"Rei..." Usagi remembered clinging to her still body while caressing her dying face. Sadness overtook her in an instant.  
  
"Don't cry! At least wait until you see us in person!"  
  
The reproach got a trembling laugh out of her.  
  
In the background a calm voice spoke. "I'm here too..."  
  
"Oh, let me see her!"  
  
Ami's tender smile filled the screen. "Hello, Usagi-chan."  
  
"Oh, Ami..."  
  
"Hey, enough with the sadness!" Minako returned to the center of the image. "Usagi, we called you to let you know about the Starlights."  
  
"Oh, right." She hadn't thought about them all day.  
  
"We talked to Seiya and the others, they are leaving today."  
  
Oh.  
  
... it had to happen, right? She had to try and be happy for them, no matter how difficult it was.  
  
"We are going to say our goodbyes on the school's rooftop, at seven."  
  
"I'll be there."  
  
"Perfect. See you later, Usagi."  
  
The sailorphone was placed on a small table. Minako walked away and the others joined her until they were all visible in the frame. "We love you!" The almost perfect chorus caused them to laugh - Ami hunching her shoulders, Minako at the top of her lungs, Rei trying to meet the others' eyes, and Makoto shaking her head.  
  
Usagi's heart overflowed with joy. "I love all of you too. See you later!"  
  
Makoto approached the screen and interrupted the call.  
  
For a long moment, Usagi did nothing but observe her lifeless sailorphone.  
  
Mamoru placed a hand on her shoulders. "See? They adore you."  
  
"They really do." Like a fool, she nodded, then immediately recovered. "Come on, let's go!"  
  
-  
  
To eat, they chose a good place. Usagi insisted on a wholesome lunch, declining his proposal to go to a fast-food restaurant.  
  
"You must eat healthily," she decreed. What she didn't add was... _After what happened to you._  
  
While they sat, waiting for their food, Mamoru mused. "So... the new Senshi are leaving."  
  
Usagi was learning to accept it. "It's very sudden, but... natural. The Three Lights came here to save their princess. Not, to look for her. Now they have found her and Galaxia is gone. In their place, I'd like to go home too."  
  
Mamoru wondered if it would be appropriate to ask his girlfriend if she would miss one of them in particular.  
  
Out of nowhere, Usako's smile blinded him. "It's a happy ending, there's no room for sadness! I bet they have people waiting for them at home. Maybe a whole kingdom!"  
  
Since those three Senshi had a princess, it had to be like that. It was even possible that those people - those human aliens, so similar to them - came from a world that was not so different from the Earth of the past. "Do you think theirs is a proper kingdom, like the Silver Millennium?"  
  
"Uh?"  
  
Or maybe that distant planet was more like the Earth of the future.  
  
Blinking, Usagi mulled over his questions. "In that case, Seiya and the others would be... like nobles?" She chuckled. "I can't picture them! I mean, actually Yaten..."  
  
"Which one is he?" Or she.  
  
"The one with light hair. He and Taiki are quite snobbish. Similar to Michiru, you know? They greeted their fans and worked here on Earth as singers, but with little enthusiasm. They had a more important purpose, and a life to which they wanted to return... Not Seiya, not so much. But I suppose he sang so ardently just to find his princess."  
  
Mamoru couldn't hold back any longer. "You'll miss him."  
  
Usagi took his hand above the table. "I'll miss him as a friend. And I regret not having a few more days to say goodbye to him - to say goodbye to all of them, even though I understand their hurry. I wonder if..."  
  
"If you will ever see them again?"  
  
Usagi nodded.  
  
"Before they leave, let's ask them for their exact location, and how long it has taken them to arrive here."  
  
She clung to a shred of hope. "You believe that one day it will be possible for us to cross the galaxy and... visit them?"  
  
He massaged her thumb. "Stranger things have happened."  
  
Usagi lighted up. "We could take Chibiusa with us!"  
  
If an ounce of jealousy had survived within Mamoru, it evaporated in that instant. His Usako didn't realize what jab she would inflict on the guy who had fallen in love with her. The way she saw it, Chibiusa was simply part of her life - of their life.  
  
Indirectly, Mamoru had the answer to a question he hadn't asked. "Chibiusa didn't return while I was away."  
  
"No." Usagi whispered. "She'd have helped me in so many ways... I missed taking her to the Crown or to the arcade with me, to see Motoki."  
  
Involuntarily, Mamoru gasped. "Didn't he ask about me?" Motoki had left a message on his voice mail.  
  
His girlfriend bit her lip. "Of course he did. I... I am sorry, I lied to him. He asked me if I was well, and I... I was so stupid. It was obvious that you wouldn't ignore him too. But I felt as if Motoki knew that you weren't calling me, so - every time I ran into him - I assured him that I was hearing from you and that you asked him to take care."  
  
Mamoru lifted one of her hands, to kiss her knuckles.  
  
Usagi's desolation was palpable. "I am sorry."  
  
He shook his head. "I have to call him and tell him I'm coming back. That way he won't be surprised to see me when I show up at his place."  
  
"He'll be very happy to hear from you again. Everyone missed you. Motoki, the girls, Artemis, Luna..."  
  
Luna? "Didn't she suspect..."  
  
Usagi bowed her head. "I pretended to receive letters from you. When she asked about it, I told her that you'd called me while she was out. I think she had her suspicions, but she never said anything. In the evening she curled up against my neck, never leaving me alone".  
  
Mamoru stopped resisting. He pulled Usagi's hands, gently. Understanding, she got up and went around the table, reaching him to sit on his knees. They were not alone, but neither of them cared.  
  
Holding each other, consoling each other, was the only thing that mattered.  
  
\--  
  
The walls of Juuban High School that afternoon had taken on a melancholy color. The school was different in Usagi's eyes: it was about to become a treasure chest full of memories that she would inhabit day after day, without ever looking at it again with the same eyes.  
  
Next to the lockers on the entrance hall, where she put down her shoes, she would always expect to see the cheerful face of Seiya, the gruff grin of Yaten, the absorbed boredom of Taiki. In the hallways, she would no longer hear the buzz of their fans following them around. From that day onwards, the school of Azabu-Juuban would lack forever its three brightest stars.  
  
Would anyone else remember? Would the Three Lights' fame survive their disappearance?  
  
She had their CDs in her room. When the nostalgia would invade her, she could listen to their songs.  
  
She turned towards Mamoru.  
  
Maybe not so soon. She would miss Seiya and the others, but she associated their presence with the absence of her dear Mamo-chan. She had dreamed for so long that those two parts of her life could merge... She had imagined Mamoru's return, as well as introducing him to Seiya.  
  
Only now she realized how cruel that would have been, but given how much Seiya had teased her for being apparently single, she had dreamed of flaunting her handsome boyfriend under his nose, showing him off.  
  
In her mind, Seiya would bang his forehead with a hand, laughing out loud. "You fooled me, Odango! So this boyfriend of yours really exists!"  
  
She hadn't really understood that Seiya had been serious in wishing that she didn't have anyone by her side - just so he could have her all to himself.  
  
...she liked to dream. One day she was going to visit Seiya on his planet. She would take with her Mamoru, Chibiusa, maybe even the girls. She and Seiya would scream of happiness in seeing each other again. In that distant future, he would consider her just a friend and he would be so happy to be back home. By then he too would have found someone to love and maybe he would introduce her to his own family.  
  
Mamoru kept looking at her, silent. "It's hard to say goodbye."  
  
It really was. "But it's not forever."  
  
"That's true."  
  
"Look who's being all sentimental!"  
  
Her heart filled with tears when she heard Rei's voice. "Rei-chan!"  
  
She found her at the bottom of the stairs and ran in her direction, throwing her arms around her neck.  
  
Rei massaged her shoulders, trembling. She wasn't crying, she was laughing. "Ohi, that's enough! I am alive and well, you know? Save your tears for the farewell to the Three Lights!"  
  
Not at all. "I have decided not to cry! It's terrible to say goodbye while crying."  
  
Rei dried her cheeks. "It's true. Besides, we have invented Sailor teleport for a reason, didn't we? Why not use it, in the future, for a little extra-galactic trip?"  
  
Usagi jerked. "Do you think it can work like that? Even if the destination is so far?"  
  
"While it's not around the corner..."  
  
Usagi gave a little shout when she spotted Ami, who was coming out from behind the lockers on the ground floor.  
  
"Yesterday I spoke with Taiki" Ami continued. "He gave me the coordinates of their planet. I will dedicate the next few years to a comprehensive study of teleportation over great distances. If they were able to make it work... In the meantime, during such studies, I will make some great discoveries. That's a given."  
  
Usagi was laughing as he wrapped her in an embrace.  
  
A wide-legged figure, with her hands pointing at her waist, stood out on the entrance to the school, against the light. She had two cats on her shoulders. "Why are you excluding me from the hugs?"  
  
"Minako!"  
  
Usagi ran immediately to her, to give her her share. She was intercepted halfway through by two female arms that lifted her up in the air, effortlessly.  
  
"My turn first!"  
  
"Makoto!"  
  
While the others joined them for a group clasp, Mamoru stood aside on the stairs, serene and almost moved.  
  
Usagi had never been alone.  
  
Artemis reached his feet. "Welcome back, Mamoru-san."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"I missed you. I was surrounded by women."  
  
"Such a pain."  
  
They laughed softly, to avoid breaking the mood. Mamoru looked at the quintet represented by Usagi and her friends - girls who were battle allies for him too.  
  
"Don't worry," he declared, "I won't go away anymore."  
  
Artemis was surprised. "Truly?"  
  
"Truly. I have come back to stay."  
  
-  
  
When she got to the top floor of the school and went out on the roof, Usagi was much more compos4ed.  
  
Seiya, Taiki, Yaten and their princess were waiting for them, leaning against the parapet. The sun was fiery red, like the hair of the sovereign of the Starlights.  
  
"We were waiting for you." It was she who spoke first, in a formal and obsequious manner. She bowed in gratitude. "We owe you everything and beyond."  
  
Usagi quickly shook her head, inviting her to straighten up. "What are you saying? Without your Senshi, I... We wouldn't be here."  
  
Kakyuu didn't want to hear a word against it. "You gave them the strength to believe in themselves. Now they are the bright stars that will restore our planetary system to its glory."  
  
"What she is trying to say" Seiya interfered. "is that I have become a hero!"  
  
Usagi burst out laughing, not by herself. In that moment she adored Seiya so much that, if it hadn't been for Mamoru's presence - and because she feared giving her friend false hopes - she would have gone to him and hold him tight.  
  
Minako crossed her arms playfully. "Careful, your ego will sink your planet!"  
  
"That's what I've always told him," Yaten remarked.  
  
"I've been asking myself one thing." Makoto was confused. "Are you famous in your world too?"  
  
"In our worlds," Taiki specified. "Each of us has his own. But our princess' planet is the most beautiful of all," he said, looking at her with admiration.  
  
She smiled sadly. "Don't say that. Our planetary system is wonderful in its every part. Now that we are going to rebuild it, we will not only bring it back to its former magnificence, but we'll gift it with a splendor never known before. If something good can come out of so much destruction and unhappiness..."  
  
Usagi met Seiya's eyes. "That's why you must return then."  
  
"Yeah," he nodded.  
  
There was no need for more words among them. As sudden and abrupt as their goodbye was - it was necessary.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Usagi noticed that Kakyuu had taken a couple of steps toward Mamoru.  
  
"You possess the star seed of this world."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"She had lost you just as I have lost the man I love."  
  
The confession amazed Mamoru.  
  
Kakyuu was not ashamed of it, she wanted to share her joy. "I believe that he is there, waiting for me. He was one of the star seeds that Galaxia released, I can feel it." The reason for her happy despair, for her haste to leave, became clearer to everyone.  
  
Kakyuu was appreciating their unity and the very fact that they had found each other once again. "I hope that you both can live happily here, in your home."  
  
Mamoru knew he could use no other moment to ask. "We still have a long way to go to improve this Earth...."  
  
It was a request for suggestions, but Kakyuu didn't offer any. "You'll have all the time in the world to understand what you need to do. You are very young, aren't you?"  
  
Usagi understood the question on an instinctive level. The princess was referring to an age that was not earthly. Or better yet, terrestrial. "Yes, we... we were born only a few years ago."  
  
Her red tails rocked gently as she nodded. "My Senshi are also very young, but not as much as you."  
  
Usagi looked at Seiya as never before. "You'll live a thousand years too?"  
  
"Of course, who do you take me for?"  
  
"I can't believe it, what's your real age?"  
  
He pulled out his tongue. "I'll never tell you."  
  
What a meanie! But one day - Usagi thought - one day they would tell each other everything. The very next time they would meet.  
  
She wanted to say it out loud, only to him. "This goodbye is not final, right?"  
  
"No. One day I will see you again, for sure."  
  
His heartfelt tone left her in doubt. "Well... when that happens, I'll introduce you better to Mamo-chan."  
  
Seiya rolled his eyes. "I didn't expect anything else."  
  
Nodding, Usagi backed away, beginning to put a distance between them - between her and the wonderful people who were about to leave.  
  
The longer they lingered, the harder it would be to say goodbye.  
  
The girls picked up her signal and, after finishing their conversations with Taiki and Yaten, followed her, standing next to each other in front of the Starlights.  
  
"And so you must go," Ami sighed.  
  
"They are waiting for us," replied Kakyuu - words of circumstance, to fill up the silence with a goodbye that was coming too soon.  
  
Yaten wanted to reassure them about their future. "We'll build a new and better world together with our princess."  
  
Leaning on Ami's shoulder, Luna had eyes only for him. "Good luck!"  
  
Yaten offered her a wink that triggered Artemis' jealousy.  
  
While everyone laughed, Seiya made up his mind. He still had a few seconds to talk to Usagi. The words he was about to pronounce were going to be the last she would hear from him for a very, very long time. "Odango."  
  
She turned to him. Seeing her beside her boyfriend, serene and finally content, Seiya was able to express the most selfless and just feeling that would give meaning to the love he had felt for her. "I am happy that your boyfriend has come back to you." He was proud of himself, he had managed to say it.  
  
Usagi hadn't expected anything less from him. "It's all thanks to you," she confirmed. "You remained by my side and that's why I have been able to stay strong."  
  
Yes... He had supported her, protected her, encouraged her. He had spent with her days that he had wished would never end. "Odango..."  
  
She raised her clear, sky-blue eyes to meet his gaze. "Hm?"  
  
Seiya would see her again one day - of course - and maybe by then he'd feel different about her. But now... now... "I'll never forget you!"  
  
Her smile was radiant. "Of course! We'll be friends forever."  
  
What the-? He hadn't made himself clear or-? The laughter of his mates embarrassed him. "Stop it!"  
  
Taiki had no intention to. "She fooled you!"  
  
The Inners didn't make fun of him; they focused on Usagi, who really hadn't understood his meaning. Or maybe, Seiya thought, she had understood it just fine and merely thought she had nothing else to tell him.  
  
It was just as well, wasn't it? Odango had always been like that. If she had been any different, he wouldn't have been so fond of her.  
  
After the last few pleasantries, he and the others backed down towards the edge of the roof. They needed space to start the interstellar jump. Kakyuu would impress the bulk of the thrust only when they were in orbit, but caution was never too much.  
  
As he moved away, Seiya realized that he hadn't yet spoken to the person he had spent so much time despising - without reason, unfairly. He turned around. "Mamoru-san!"  
  
Usagi's boyfriend - the prince of Earth and the man against whom he had had no hope of competing - looked at him carefully.  
  
In order not to feel totally useless, Seiya was in the mood for a handover. "From now on you will be the one to protect her."  
  
His victorious rival showed no reaction to his words.  
  
He was made of iron. "Someone told me these words," Seiya clarified, "a girl who believes herself so tough."  
  
Finally, the message went through. "I know who you are talking about."  
  
Of course, one couldn't forget a woman like Uranus.  
  
Seiya reached his companions and the princess, placing himself next to them. Closing his eyelids, he donned the robes of Sailor Star Fighter, becoming himself in a female form.  
  
Taiki caved in first. "Be well everyone!"  
  
Seiya followed her suit. "See you soon," he said to all of them, addressing Usagi in particular.  
  
The princess thanked their earthly counterparts one last time, and Yaten, with great aplomb, closed the roundup with a poetic 'Bye bye'.  
  
There was a reason if Taiki had been the one writing the lyrics of their songs.  
  
The Inners dedicated a few final words to each of them, but Seiya only heard Odango when she said, "We'll be waiting for you."  
  
 _Yes_ , Seiya answered her in his heart. _Wait for me. One day I will..._  
  
Eyes closed, he felt himself hover in the air, then everything disappeared. He was already in the atmosphere when he murmured... "Farewell."  
  
He traveled home, in search of a new beginning.  
  
  
Part two - Goodbyes/2 - End 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the long delay.
> 
> As you probably know, I've originally written this part of the story more than twelve years ago. I updated it in 2011, but when I approached the translation of these scenes, they felt kind of hollow to me. Not as exciting or as heartfelt, as I knew they could have been. I tried to write them from the beginning for all these weeks, unsuccessfully. Yesterday the mood finally struck me and the new version of this chapter came out of my fingers.  
> I am so happy! My Italian readers appreciated the new version too - even if they are still fond of the previous one, which they have loved for so many years.
> 
> Fear not: I won't take so long to translate part three - the one finally dedicated to Usagi and Mamoru's first time.  
> That chapter was fine to begin with. It's a little naive - but that's just the impression I wanted to give. They are both so in love, but also innocent and young. Their first time is going to be magical, but funny too, and maybe a little instructive (for them at least ;) ). Oh, and of course sweetly sexual.
> 
> Some time ago I received a review about the kind of terms I use in my sex scenes to describe anatomical parts. It was a request - and a wish - for me to use more daring words during sex, as a form of liberation for me as an author.  
> Err, I am liberated, I read erotica when I want to.  
> I am also a firm believer in sticking to the characters' experience and background in giving voice to their thoughts. That's the reason for which  
> in most of my stories you won't see explicit terms. I cannot link them to the mind of young japanese girls who have grown up in a culture in which sex is seen - sadly - as something dirty for a woman.  
> Of course not every japanese girl has the same nature and experience, but from what I've seen of the Inners in the anime, they all seem to to be, in one way or another, quite typical young women in regards to sexual modesty. I cannot see how their sexuality would include very explicit words from the beginning of their sexual experience (the one which you are going to read about in my saga, since I'll progress chronologically).  
> After all, my stories are set in the '90s - an era in which internet was just starting to be used by the masses. No easy access to porn or sexual content; people had to buy magazines and adult movies by going to physical stores.  
> Now, maybe Minako would do it even while being a virgin (I haven't written about it, but I can see it, absolutely). It's not a given that she would assimilate the language though, or find it to her tastes immediately. That can take years - and not happen at all.  
> And Usagi? Well, Usagi is the kind of girl that blushed at the mere mention of sex to her boyfriend in the fifth season of the anime (episode 168). She didn't even use the word sex while talking to him - she was so embarrassed by the whole situation.  
> Manga!Usagi is a different story and a more sexual being. But in my fanfics you will see only Anime!Usagi.
> 
> So, this is the reason for which you will read some 'floreal' terms in my sex scenes.  
> I want you to see the characters' mind and feelings, not mines.
> 
> With time, you'll encounter more anatomically correct words as the girls gain experience and confidence. There is a path in their growth even in this regard. Realism is important to me.
> 
> I'll describe a male point of view too (multiple ones) and I'll use the same criteria to impersonate the male characters, keep it in mind. Background and context, that's the mantra.
> 
> Thank you for reading. The first part of chapter 3 will be with you soon :)
> 
> Elle

**Author's Note:**

> N/A: my goal with these scenes was to make you feel the confusion and overwhelming relief that both Usagi and Mamoru felt after coming back from the last battle. Well, she had been the one to fight. He had been simply dead for months and I absolutely wanted to explore how he would react to this knowledge.  
> In the next chapter, Mamoru is going to ask Usagi why she hadn't tried to contact him in the US. How could she believe that he wouldn't talk to her for so long?  
> Review with your impressions to increase my enthusiasm in translating the story for you ;)


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